Maria V Wathen | Loyola University Chicago (original) (raw)

Papers by Maria V Wathen

Social Work Research

Drawing on political opportunity theory, this study examined how the political context created by... more Drawing on political opportunity theory, this study examined how the political context created by the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests influenced social workers’ perceptions about social welfare policy and political participation in the summer of 2020. Authors conducted a thematic analysis of the open-ended survey responses of 120 social work practitioners. Regarding perceptions of policy, respondents reported that they experienced new awareness about the breadth and depth of structural racism in the United States; that they held pessimistic views of the government’s ability to mitigate harm associated with the pandemic or racial injustice; and that structural change, including the expansion of the social safety net, was needed. Regarding participation, respondents described how they used new forms of political engagement in part because of social distancing, but even more so because they were motivated by highly visible acts of racial injustice. At the same time, t...

Journal of Community Practice, Jun 16, 2021

ABSTRACT This study examines how U.S. refugee policy changes from 2014 to 2018 affected the emoti... more ABSTRACT This study examines how U.S. refugee policy changes from 2014 to 2018 affected the emotional well-being of nonprofit service providers. Participants identified the general political climate, including funding cuts; the Trump administration refugee bans; the unpredictable nature of policy change; and most impactful, negative political rhetoric, as affecting their emotional well-being. Negative effects on emotional well-being included an increase in stress, anger, sadness, despair, depression, helplessness, and caution. Negative rhetoric also impacted professional identities and personal relationships. Positive effects include greater motivation for advocacy. Impact on emotional well-being differed by level of organization at which the participant worked and by organizational characteristics.

Human service organizations, management, leadership & governance, Nov 22, 2021

ABSTRACT This paper explores the strategies that staff at two refugee-serving organizations found... more ABSTRACT This paper explores the strategies that staff at two refugee-serving organizations found helpful in mitigating their increased distress from negative political rhetoric aimed at their clients. Results point to the importance of organizational acknowledgment of the distress. Additionally, staff perceived that intentionally focused organizational interventions can mitigate the emotional impacts of negative rhetoric. Finally, strategies employees used to lessen their distress and regain a sense of efficacy included recommitment to the mission, advocacy for refugees among family and friends, strong reliance on religious faith in coping, and an avoidance of the rhetoric by decreasing engagement with news and social media.

Human service organizations, management, leadership & governance, Jun 7, 2023

Social Work Research, 2023

Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance

Research on Social Work Practice

Purpose: Financial knowledge often does not translate into financial well-being. This study looks... more Purpose: Financial knowledge often does not translate into financial well-being. This study looks at how knowledge might be converted to well-being for people living in low-income environments, based on a theory called Financial PSS. Methods: The study tests the validity of the two scales that make up Financial PSS: Perceived Financial Barriers and Financial Hope. Then it examines how these measures along with an intervention measure called TIP are associated with financial capability. Results: Results validated the Perceived Financial Barrier Scale and Financial Hope Scale. Next, the study found that the Perceived Financial Barriers Scale and the Financial Hope Scale are associated with financial capability, as is the TIP score. Conclusions: The study concludes that Financial PSS as a newly applied practice-based theory should be further tested. Workforce providers could integrate financial education and empowerment-based F-PSS process models and see a positive impact on their plac...

Research on Social Work Practice, 2023

Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 2023

Journal of Family and Economic Issues

Children and Youth Services Review, 2021

Using an institutional logics approach, this study investigates how the institutional logics of l... more Using an institutional logics approach, this study investigates how the institutional logics of leaders of grassroots social service nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Russia changed over time and how these changes related to changes in organizational mission, people served, professionalization, and interactions with the government. Relying on interviews as well as other data gathered, this analysis of organizational leaders’ narratives reveals the identities and experiences that these leaders turn to in their sensemaking of significant events. The findings show that, on the one hand, social welfare NGOs continued to provide services, increased their advocacy efforts, and professionalized their staff. Volunteer organizations, on the other hand, discontinued provision of social services turning instead to the recruitment and development of volunteers. Theoretically, this empirical case illustrates how an interplay of factors at multiple levels can affect the expression of logics...

Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 2021

This paper explores the strategies that staff at two refugee-serving organizations found helpful ... more This paper explores the strategies that staff at two refugee-serving organizations found helpful in mitigating their increased distress from negative political rhetoric aimed at their clients. Results point to the importance of organizational acknowledgment of the distress. Additionally, staff perceived that intentionally focused organizational interventions can mitigate the emotional impacts of negative rhetoric. Finally, strategies employees used to lessen their distress and regain a sense of efficacy included recommitment to the mission, advocacy for refugees among family and friends, strong reliance on religious faith in coping, and an avoidance of the rhetoric by decreasing engagement with news and social media.

Journal of Community Practice, 2020

Public Administration Issues, 2014

Provision of antipoverty and other social services by nonstate organizations is growing in import... more Provision of antipoverty and other social services by nonstate organizations is growing in importance in both the United States and the Russian Federation. Th e history of such provision in the United States may off er insights for the emerging system of nonstate provision in Russia. To illuminate these points, we provide historical overviews of both contexts and then we examine data from two surveys of social service organizations in the United States: the Multi-City Survey of Social Service Providers and the Rural Survey of Social Service Providers. We fi nd that nonstate actors strengthen social capital in poor neighborhoods and oft en link poor persons to public agencies. Nonstate actors strengthen other local institutions through programmatic partnerships and collaboration. However, fi nancing arrangements of nonstate welfare provision may favor effi ciency over concerns about equity, sustainability, and predictability. In addition, the primacy of nonstate provision leads to a welfare state that is more varied geographically than might be anticipated otherwise. Such variability appears to disadvantage highpoverty and predominately minority communities the most. Finally, politically, nonstate welfare provision may occur with little public discussion, debate, or refl ection as it evolves over time. Th ese fi ndings invoke important questions for Russian policy-makers as they seek to develop an equitable and effi cient means of providing assistance to their population.

Social Science Quarterly, 2015

Objective. We examine how low-income households have drawn upon public and charitable nonprofit s... more Objective. We examine how low-income households have drawn upon public and charitable nonprofit sources of social assistance during and after the Great Recession. Methods. Using panel survey data collected in the Detroit Metropolitan Area in 2008 and 2010, we explore the relationships between household characteristics, program use, and bundling of assistance. Results. Roughly twothirds of Detroit households within 300 percent of poverty received a public safety net benefit in the previous year; about 40 percent received assistance from more than one public program. More than one in six households received help from a nonprofit charity. Low educational attainment, unemployment, and health limitations are positively related to receipt of multiple public assistance programs. Conclusions. Our findings point to persistent needs among poor and near-poor households after the Great Recession, as well as to the reality that many low-income households draw upon multiple sources of public assistance even when working. Many low-income households remain detached from public and charitable sources of support even as the safety net has expanded in response to the downturn.

Economic shocks produced by the Great Recession have contributed to rising food insecurity, with ... more Economic shocks produced by the Great Recession have contributed to rising food insecurity, with 14.7 percent of U.S. households being food insecure in 2009, compared to 11.1 percent in 2007. At the same time, SNAP caseloads increased by nearly 60 percent since 2007 and the program now reaches more than 40 million persons. Using data from the first two waves of the Michigan Recession and Recovery Survey (MRRS), a unique panel survey of a representative sample of working-age adults in the Detroit Metropolitan Area, this project explores three research questions related to the receipt of SNAP among low-income households: How have low-income families in the Detroit Metropolitan Area bundled SNAP with other types of public assistance and help from charitable nonprofits in the wake of the Great Recession? When controlling for economic shocks and respondent characteristics, to what extent is access to local food assistance resources related to receipt of SNAP and charitable nonprofit food...